You Wished WHAT?
by Darkwood Princess
Summary: Otherwise known as Operation: Rescue Julian. When Miles O'Brien wishes the Chief Medical Officer away, he's given an ultimatum. He has 13 hours to solve the Labyrinth with whoever wants to tag along or Julian remains within the Underground forever.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is an older idea of mine, which has been slowly evolving over time and is currently set between seasons 4 and 5 of DS9. Yes this is the second time I have wanted to cross Labyrinth with something random, and yes, this is even more unrealistic than last time. Just indulge me. Please. ^.^

Maybe it had been the stress of Keiko and Major Kira undergoing surgery to rescue his unborn son, maybe it had been the mess that was Quark's bar, now that everything had been confiscated by Brunt F.C.A. and replaced with ugly glasses and even worse brandy, maybe it was the fact that Keiko had dug up that ancient Earth movie about fairies and goblins and insisted that the whole family watch it, or maybe he had just been plain annoyed, as so often Miles Edward O'Brien was.

The result was what he classified as Not. Pretty.

It had started out simple enough, with both Miles and Julian discussing some random topic of the day, their next holosuite program if he remembered correctly, and then Leeta had shown up and everything went to heck in a handbasket.

You see, while Miles no longer hated Julian, he really didn't care for the younger man's obnoxious flirtations, especially with the women he was with. He had muttered under his breath in exasperation, an offhand comment really, "I wish the goblins would come and take you away Julian, right now."

Maybe it was his Irish blood. Maybe the entities in question had waited a millennia and were bored that evening. Maybe it was sheer dumb luck that Miles' wish would be heard across the vast echoes of space and the memory of that ridiculous movie he had watched the night before.

Maybe, but maybe doesn't really matter when the lights go out and a cold wind sweeps through an environmentally controlled station. Maybe is a bit academic when everyone is panicking as chittering creatures grab at ankles and overturn tables, while in the panic your best friend disappears. Maybe becomes reality when the King of the Goblins stands on Quark's counter, booted feet apart and black armor gleaming, as he announces in the universe's most savagely bored tone, a gleam of unholy glee in his eyes, that the station's Chief Medical Officer will be his in 13 hours unless Miles and anyone who cares for the doctor wants to run a labyrinth to get him back.

Reality can really bite.

He gives them 13 minutes to make their decision, and Miles acknowledges that maybe the rules have changed a bit because he wasn't even offered his dreams. That and he's been given an option to take others with him, and isn't there some truth to the old adage strength in numbers?

Maybe the King of the Goblins was bored that day, maybe he felt like a change was necessary to the old game in a world where the fewest of few believed, maybe the rules had been changed by a girl and a babe, full of power and the ability to remember the land they had once known.

Time is a slippery opponent and reality means nothing when faced with a world in which physics quails and magic reigns. Suddenly the world of maybes opens up before a runner who has forgotten what it was like to be a child, to believe in magic and miracles.

Or shall we say runners.

The Goblin King laughs and his laugh rings throughout the station, triumph and delight mixed with the joy of the hunt, the thrill of the game.

The challenge has been accepted and the game is on.

13 hours to take what was stolen, 13 hours to retrieve a lost friend, 13 because even though humanity has reached the stars, they have yet to shed superstitions.

It's only forever, which isn't long at all.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: So I start Med School in a week but I felt like this needed another chapter at least!

The first thing Julian Subatoi Bashir felt when he woke up was the feeling of cold stone flagstones beneath his back. Reasonably he wondered when his James Bond holodeck program had decided to do away with beautiful mansions in favor of drafty castles, but he figured he could roll with it. He'd dealt with weirder additions to the program, since Felix apparently found it imperative to mix it up every couple missions. As long as he didn't have to face the Villainess with a fondness for dressing up the heroes in embarrassing cosplay he'd be just fine this time.

That was of course, before he felt the grasps of dozens of little appendages latching onto his duty uniform. Hooked fingers, crooked claws, and what felt distinctly like a noodle, grabbed onto him, pulling the disoriented doctor into a sitting position in the middle of the once grand throne room.

Julian opened his eyes to the controlled chaos that was the Labyrinth in the middle of a run.

XXX

Quark's was just as chaotic but without the control, though the Ferengi proprietor had no way of actually knowing that, short of having a crystal ball connected to the arcane. And yet, the universe and fate, in their infinite wisdom, had decided not to gift the avaricious Ferengi with foresight, simply because what fun was the game when the player had all the pieces?

Morn was shrieking, off-duty Bajorans were stumbling into each other in an attempt to get out of the premises, and Odo was standing in the middle of it all looking as puzzled as was possible with a changeling's face. Quark, doing his best to calm down his suddenly fleeing customers, gave up when he found no one was really listening to him. The only people still left in the bar were the rapidly approaching Odo and the suddenly shell-shocked O'Brien.

"What was all of that, Quark? A business associate of yours gone wrong? Sisko won't be pleased to know that one of your people kidnapped the doctor." Odo was the only being in the galaxy Quark knew of that could continually and purposefully suspect that he was _always_ at fault for every little problem and hiccup. He was surprised the changeling hadn't already commed the Captain, but assumed that maybe he wanted to have a little more information before doing so. After all what they'd all witnessed was a short, vaguely hu-maan in appearance, creature show up on the bar and announce something strange. That happened all the time on DS9.

"Do I look like the kind of businessman who deals with kidnappers? I put that in the same league as weapons merchants. You might get a moon out of it but you might also get murdered. Besides that strange hu-maan was talking to the Chief." He prodded the near catatonic O'Brien.

"You okay Chief?" Odo's snorted and O'Brien seemed to stumble himself awake.

"I need to see the Captain right now. I've only got 10 minutes." As he ran out of the bar, Odo and Quark shared a rare look of commiseration at the strangeness of humans just before Odo took off after him, after all kidnappings fell under his jurisdiction.

XXX

Once upon a time, ah those most magic of words, the Goblin Kingdom had not been the pitifully downtrodden nation it was. Once it had been powerful, a force to be reckoned with. Now it was merely existing, destroyed by the modern world that had one made it so strong.

For once belief was gone, the bedrock holding everything together crumbled. And, given the less than linear nature of time, the Labyrinth was still reeling from the loss of its champion. The rejection of Sarah Williams had cut more than the King, leaving the Labyrinth herself vulnerable.

To misquote a quite famous phrase, It is a galactically acknowledged truth that a kingdom in possession of land, subjects, and a King is desperately in need of a Queen.

But of course Julian had no way to know this as the Goblins dragged him into an upright possession bringing him face to face with a being who was already in a less than pleasant mood.

Jareth's shark like smile sent shudders down the doctor's spine.

"I hope you like being a goblin, because you, my less than fortunate wished away, are going to be with us for a long, looong time."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: So I passed my first Med School Exam with A and I am beyond ecstatic. I also had the afternoon free, meaning I am going to use it for my own mental relaxation! Without further ado, have another chapter of the Labyrinth/DS9 Crossover!

"Starfleet will not let this go without a response. They will come for me." Julian's steady claim was met with several dozen raucous laughs of varying pitches and timbres. The man on the strange throne merely smirked, revealing teeth so pointed, Quark would have been jealous.

"My young, ignorant wished away, that is the point entirely. Why take you if no one was going to come for you? I certainly don't need any more foolish goblins, now do I?" He kicked one that had strayed a tad bit too close to the Lord of the Labyrinth's boots. "No, you are here for one purpose, and one purpose only. To provide me with entertainment for the next 13 hours."

Julian frowned at his captor, wishing that since he didn't have a phaser, he would have at least had a hypospray with him. Unoffical rule number two of Starfleet Medical was that you always carried a hypospray with you at all times. It prevented enemies from completely having the playing field to themselves.

He had lost count of how many times a fellow doctor had pointed out the usefulness of a spare hypo, but noooo, he had to be kidnapped without one.

"I'm a doctor, not an entertainer and I'm afraid you'll find me rather dull." Julian's smile was strained, tired already after only a few minutes in this man's presence. "And I'm not half as ignorant as you think I am, Goblin King."

Jareth's answering smile was unnerving and Julian found himself fervently wishing that Miles and the others would hurry up and get to him quickly.

XXX

8 minutes to go…

"You must be joking." Kira's voice was flat and disbelieving, leaving Miles wondering just what he would have to do to convince her given that they'd seen ten thousand and one strange things in the last few years. Was a Goblin King so hard to believe in when they'd had Rumpelstiltskin and the Gul-Dukat-Security-Program-From-Heck?

"No, I'm not and really we need to get going before the time runs out!"

The thunderous look of fury on Sisko's face was enough to let Miles know that he'd convinced at least one person and as a curious Odo slipped into Ops with an even more curious Garak inexplicably trailing behind him, he relaxed slightly more. Hopefully he wouldn't be making this trip through the looking glass all on his lonesome.

5 minutes to go…

"Old Man you and Kira stay behind and take care of the station, try to see if you can find out some more about this Goblin King. O'Brien and Odo, you're with me. Do you need something Mr. Garak? We are quite busy right now." Garak seemed as unphased as ever by Sisko's abrupt nature and merely smiled enigmatically.

"I can't let my favorite lunch partner be taken by a man with questionable taste in riding boots now can I? I'm coming with you." His declaration was met with a few raised eyebrows but no objections, in this case, the more hands and eyes, the better.

Sisko focused on O'Brien, "You have your answer now Chief, how do you propose we get in contact with our friend? Oh and please, whatever you do, no more wishes?"

Miles flushed with chagrin. "Yes, sir."

2 minutes to go…

XXX

Sarah Williams had gotten quite used to her semi-magical life. Days were spent as a university student, pursuing an advanced degree in literature, nights were spent speaking and visiting with her old friends from the Labyrinth, compiling their stories so that they would never be forgotten.

If there was one thing Sarah had learned from her one time run through the world's dodgiest maze, it was that words and intentions had power. Preserving her friends lives could only be doing good for them. Maybe one day she'd publish it all under a pseudonym, hopefully helping them even more.

Currently Sarah was working through a personal essay and avoiding the blistering August heat. She was lucky that her apartment was a fully functioning place, unlike some of the horror stories she'd heard from fellow classmates about their first lodgings away from home.

Her musings were interrupted by a loud chatter that caused Sarah to sigh more than anything.

A little blue goblin was jumping up and down on her desk, having done what goblins do best, knocking over her entire stack of books. Oh yes, she was still visited by goblins on an everyday basis. Tiny goblins, small enough to swim in her tea cups, medium goblins, mischievous enough to mess with her cats, and the large ones, happy to huddle in the back of her car on the way too and from campus, playing with an outdated cassette player that she left there expressly for them to fiddle with.

Sarah had found that leaving old technology around was a surefire way to distract the silly denizens of the Labyrinth.

And as long as she didn't see _him_ , she was perfectly happy to play hostess to the harmless creatures.

This particular goblin she'd named Oranges, despite his blue scales, because he was absolutely and irrevocably addicted to the fruit. Oranges was fond of carrying messages for her and as long as she rewarded him with a slice of fruit, he only gnawed the paper a little.

Trading the little fellow a slice from the bag she kept in the fridge, Sarah opened the (slightly damp) parchment to find Hoggle's cramped and frantic scrawl underneath Didymus's beautifully looping text.

"Dearest Sir Hoggle," Didymus's words read, "the King hath captured a young man and not a babe, please pass the knowledge on to our Lady Sarah. She will know what to do in regards to this most unusual circumstance."

Of course, Sarah thought with a frown, they thought she would fix the problem of their wacky King breaking his own rules. It was like being the mom of a brood of rowdy trouble children.

"Sarah," Hoggle's words were scribbled, "Don't come over heres any time soon. Jareth's gone nuts. He's taken an adult and we don't want yous anywhere near this nonsense."

Rubbing her temples Sarah turned to the mirror and pulling on the magic that Jareth had so unwisely gifted her in one of his rather silly monologues she commanded it to show her the throne room, but discretely.

XXX

The lights flickered in Ops, the irrational wind whistling through as if the station's environmental controls were on the fritz, and Benjamin Lafayette Sisko was ready to face this new threat like he did every other one that had been thrown at him in recent years.

And if he was remembering punching a certain member of the Q Continuum, well no one could exactly blame him. Omnipotent beings tended to get on one's nerves.

One minute the space in the middle of Ops was empty and the next the man was standing there, his wild blond hair snapping at the whims of the wind, his sparkling black cape almost darker than the abyss outside, a compliment to his grim smile and piercing gaze.

"So it seems you have picked a group of runners, very well." He indicated the small knot waiting patiently for him. His voice was smooth, authoritative, and Sisko instinctively hated it. He had something of Dukat's arrogance and Solok's Vulcan grace, traits which won a being absolutely nothing in his book.

Sisko was about to speak when the world seemed to tilt and dissolve, revolving into a desert plain, and while still stunned, trying to catch his bearings, the Goblin King vanished, leaving only this parting bit of advice.

"You have 13 hours. Use them wisely."


End file.
